


The Lonely Old Woman in Lavender Town

by fairyeyes



Category: Pocket Monsters | Pokemon - All Media Types
Genre: Gen, Mystery
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-16
Updated: 2017-12-16
Packaged: 2019-02-15 09:02:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,738
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13027713
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fairyeyes/pseuds/fairyeyes
Summary: Trust doesn't come easy for Dahlia, especially from the overly nice Mr. Fuji.





	The Lonely Old Woman in Lavender Town

**Author's Note:**

> This is a birthday gift for my very close friend, Briah. One of our favorite things to talk about is Mr. Fuji and what skeletons he may or may not have in the closet. This is just one idea, of course. :3

**The Lonely Old Woman in Lavender Town**

For someone like Dahlia, a Celadon City native, trust never came easy for her. In her years growing up, she had seen how quickly her home had grown from a town to a city – all with the recent introduction of the Celadon Department Store. She didn’t trust all the new businesses and especially the new business owners that followed along.

Dahlia wasn’t the type to tell people to get out – ultimately, it meant Celadon Town became a City and things would be better for her and her family. However, as she had gotten older, she reluctantly accepted the changes and kept her mouth shut. She didn’t say anything when her town turned into a city.

When she met her husband, James, she was actually on vacation in Fuchsia City. She had wanted to go to the Pokemon Zoo but it wasn’t open at the time. Instead, her friends and she decided to hit the beach south of the actual city itself. They had enjoyed their time until they saw a bunch of other young adults around their age by the beach.

One of them, named James, surprised her – he charmed his way into her heart. It wasn’t exactly love at first sight but the two had corresponded after that vacation. She wasn’t sure if she should trust him – he was a man from Fuchsia City. Where it was fun to visit the Pokemon Zoo, Dahlia couldn’t have shaken off those rumors. The rumors were that the Pokemon were traded by illegal means by using the young people who felt trapped between Cinnabar Island and the rest of the continent. Dahlia wasn’t sure when she first heard these rumors but… at first, she was cautious.

However, James was kind and didn’t seem to be aware of the nasty rumors. Dahlia and James would eventually marry and move to Saffron City. Apparently, James had managed to land a job in the large company called Silph Company and the couple moved there. There – the two would give birth to two children who would eventually grow up and chase their own destiny. The little family in Saffron City was just a little blip in the city in Saffron and Dahlia’s trust grew as her heart did.

Eventually, her family had grown as her own children started their own families and she and James became grandparents. Because of the generous pension plan the Silph Company gave James when they retired, they were able to move out of the quickly booming city of Saffron City and into the quieter town of Lavender Town. They had heard rumors of a kind man named Mr. Fuji – a man who cared for orphaned Pokemon and orphaned children.

Dahlia’s first mistake was to trust that rumor.

While Dahlia had never been one to search for the actual truth, even when she had an opportunity to, she had made one of the biggest mistakes of her life – trusting Mr. Fuji.

He was welcoming to the couple and even had some Pokemon to let their grandchildren play with. He couldn’t have been that bad, right?

One night, Dahlia had woken up for some reason. She didn’t remember why she stirred so late – she wasn’t as young as she once was. And yet, something seemingly called to her that fateful night. She had looked out the window and saw Mr. Fuji – someone who seemed very close to their home. Mr. Fuji’s home for the orphans was pretty close but it wasn’t within her sight so Dahlia was surprised to see Mr. Fuji come that close.

She couldn’t see very well – probably her age, probably the fact it was night – but she could’ve sworn she had seen another individual there in an unfamiliar uniform. She didn’t stay very long because as soon as she parted her curtains, she closed it just as quickly. She felt her heartbeat quicken and felt chills down her spine. She didn’t know why she hesitated and why she breathed so quickly after seeing such a random sight. Why was Mr. Fuji by their home at this time of night? Maybe one of the Pokemon had gotten loose but… then who was that? Who was Mr. Fuji talking to?

“Dahlia, are you okay?” James asked as he turned on the light. He yawned and Dahlia hesitated again before she turned off the light behind him. “Dahlia?” His voice was extremely clear and worried.

“O-oh, it’s nothing… I… I just needed some water.” Dahlia was surprised at herself. She had never had a reason to be scared – but that image was seared into her memories and memories to come. It was just a simple image of Mr. Fuji talking someone… close to her home; the home he personally welcomed them in.

Dahlia wasn’t able to sleep for the rest of the night. She was frightened to what Mr. Fuji’s true nature was. From what she remembered from the conversations her husband had with him, he was born in Cinnabar Island and had dedicated his life to science for a bit. She never was able to find out for sure what type of science he dedicated his life to.

One question she always asked but still hadn’t gotten an answer to: “What changed your mind?”

Frustrated, Dahlia wanted to ask questions but she knew, and she could feel her anger grow, she wouldn’t get an answer. She knew James wouldn’t listen to her – he’d rather listen to her fantastical nightmares of paranoia rather than her actual worries. It’s not that he wouldn’t listen to her… Dahlia knew her James. Once he has an opinion on someone, Dahlia would have to move mountains in order to get him to change his mind about them. She would have to go above and beyond to prove to him about that person. It annoyed her to no end that he wouldn’t just listen to her… but she liked that about him. Always had and always will. However, with her newfound fear of Mr. Fuji… she didn’t know what to think.

Everyone always cast aside Dahlia’s comments and thoughts about people and she was fine with it.

Ever since that night, though, she would only give Mr. Fuji a polite hello. She didn’t want her grandchildren to go near the orphaned Pokemon – she found that they would eventually disappear into seemingly thin air – same with the actual orphans.

“Oh, they’ve been adopted!” Mr. Fuji would casually explain away. He always seemed a bit more annoyed around Dahlia since that night but James always joked that Dahlia was just tired. She wouldn’t buy this excuse. She wasn’t naïve. While she knew better than to pry into the children and Pokemon’s lives, she knew that people in Kanto rarely, if ever, adopted children and Pokemon. James would often claim that times have changed and the younger people are a lot more open to adopting than they would’ve been.

Dahlia snorted at the comment.

However, it didn’t take long until James fell down one day. He had been taking care of the garden Oddish until he fell. The Oddish and came and gotten Dahlia to let her know and immediately James was escorted to the hospital.

It was a tense evening but eventually, the doctor came out and had told Dahlia that James was ill – terminally. Apparently, for the few short months they’ve been in Lavender Town, James had been ingesting a certain poison. The doctors had guessed that the poison came from the Oddish that the couple raised together. The Oddish was a gift from their son-in-law in celebration of their newly retired life.

She refused to give them up. She had told them that she was the one who was around them more than he was – but the doctors shrugged her claims off. Because she was born in Celadon City, she was more likely able to deal with the grass Pokemon’s poisons rather than James.

“But he’s from Fuchsia City! Their beaches were rumored to be poisoned… weren’t they?” Now Dahlia questioned her own sanity. Was that night a result of the poison?

She was eventually tested for any poisons herself but doctors found nothing out of the ordinary. Still, the authorities had to take away the Oddish from the upset Dahlia.

Within a few months, James passed away. He at least passed on with a smile on his face and hope on his lips but Dahlia’s paranoia only grew more with his passing.

Her family grieved with her and gifted her with a pet Meowth to keep her company when James was gone. She didn’t know what to do. The Meowth was a cute pet indeed and often times would find shiny objects around the yard but… while her Meowth was unaware of what went on, Dahlia’s depression only grew.

Children disappeared while Pokemon disappeared – but she was just an old woman. The only one who would listen to a lonely old woman with a singular Meowth. Because of her paranoia, her family had stayed away and their visits became fewer and fewer as time went on. Ever since James’s death, Dahlia was lost. She would spend her days with her house in continuous disarray as she sat lonely in her rocking chair. She didn’t have the strength to clean up since James’s funeral.

What is Dahlia to do without James? What is Dahlia to do without someone listening to her? James always took her worries seriously but while he never listened to her fully, he at least took her seriously when necessary. At least… he listened. Now no one wanted to visit the lonely old woman in Lavender Town.

She cursed Mr. Fuji’s name. He didn’t want to help her and seemed to wash his hands of her after James’s death. The community did what they could to give penance to what had happened but Dahlia knew the community didn’t just tolerate her. To say suspicions about Mr. Fuji in Dahlia’s mind only grew was a vast understatement. However, who would listen to the crazy old lady in Lavender Town?

However, one day, as she sat in her usual chair with her fat Meowth on her lap… a little red-head girl, with an arm in a sling, appeared before her.

“Are you… Mrs. Dahlia?” she slowly asked.

She rocked in her chair – a certain anger rose in her heart.

“Do you know Mr. Fuji?” she suddenly asked.


End file.
